Distributed Wind Energy

Deploying distributed energy resources technologies to generate, store, and manage energy consumption for nearby customers can help meet.

FREMONT, CA: Wind turbines used as a distributed energy resource—known as the distributed wind are connected at the distribution level of a power delivery system to serve on-site energy demand or support the operation of local electricity distribution networks.

Distributed wind installations can extend from a less-than-1-kilowatt off-grid wind turbine powering telecommunications equipment to a 15-kilowatt wind turbine at home or small farm or a 100-kilowatt wind turbine at a university campus or industrial facility. Distributed wind can also be many multimegawatt wind turbines affiliated with a local community or electricity distribution utility.

Individuals, businesses, and communities establish distributed wind energy to balance retail power costs or secure long-term power cost assurance, support grid operations and local loads, strengthen resilience with backup power, and electrify remote properties and infrastructure not associated with a centralized grid.

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DEPLOYMENT ACCELERATION

For distributed wind to recognize its potential contribution to national decarbonization and environmental justice objectives, consumers and stakeholders require support to evaluate, develop, and operate distributed wind systems and hybrid systems (e.g., wind-, solar-, and storage-powered microgrids). Rural electric utilities and their communities have experienced limited distributed wind deployment due to a lack of resources and tools to support decision-making.

SYSTEMS INTEGRATION

Controls and power electronics hardware to incorporate wind energy technologies with other distributed energy resources into distribution grids, microgrids, & hybrid systems are not well-advanced or standardized.

In addition, the tools used to inform decision-making around grid system planning and operations often do not completely characterize distributed wind compared to other distributed energy resources. As contributions from unstable renewable resources have increased on microgrids and distribution grids, the requirement for the wind to integrate in a consistent plug-and-play manner with other distributed energy technologies is essential for consumer adoption.

SMALL AND MEDIUM WIND TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

Small wind turbine technology is usually defined as turbines with a rated capacity of fewer than 100 kilowatts. Medium wind turbine technology is generally defined as turbines with a rated capacity of more than 100 kilowatts and no more than 1 megawatt.

Cost diminution and power performance improvements are important for small and medium wind turbine technologies to remain a financially viable distributed energy resource option.

Also, turbine testing for certification to national performance and safety standards is an important step to qualify new technology for commercialization & incentive programs. Still, testing turbines to rigorous standards is time intensive and can hinder a small company’s ability to take its product to the market. 

RESOURCE ASSESSMENT

Accurately and cost-effectively forecasting the power performance of distributed wind installations, especially those utilizing small wind turbine technology, is a technical challenge. Accordingly, consumers and policymakers have less confidence in the small-scale distributed wind, and small wind projects tend to have high project development costs.

The cost and long timeframes of present measurement-based wind resource assessments used by large wind farm developers are unsuitable for small wind installers and developers. This usually forces small-wind installers and developers to use rule-of-thumb methods and simplified model-based approaches, leading to doubt in the estimates and a tendency to overestimate production.

The resource assessment concentrate area of the distributed wind research program aims to give data, modeling tools, and information to support customers and stakeholders evaluate wind resource quality in their region, territory, and backyard.